Bound Newsletter 12.1.2025
It’s that time of year again—holiday cheer, community vibes, and of course…a little fitness fun! We’re excited to invite you to our annual “Lift for a Gift” + Christmas Party at CrossFit Bound!
🎅 Event Details
📅 When: Thursday, December 5th from 4:00–7:30 PM
*classes will be on normal schedule in morning through lunch
*heats will be assigned at 4, 4:40, 5:20, 6pm (additional if needed)
📍 Where: CrossFit Bound
👥 Who: Bring your family and friends! We’ll have tables and chairs set up in both the front and back areas so everyone can relax, eat, and enjoy the evening.
👕 Attire: Wear your favorite Christmas sweater—ugly, festive, or hilariously outrageous. Rock it during the workout or just hang out and cheer others on.
🍽 Food: We’ll provide the main food for the evening! If you’d like to bring a dessert or side dish to share, we’d love it.
🎁 Why We Celebrate
This event is new to our community, and we’re excited to start a tradition centered around connection, celebration, and giving back. We know the holiday season fills up fast with work events, travel, and family gatherings, so we created a way to come together without adding stress to your already-packed schedule.
“Lift for a Gift” gives us a chance to:
*Celebrate the holiday season with our CrossFit Bound family
*Support Toys for Tots by donating a gift to children in need
*Enjoy time together in a fun, relaxed environment before the holiday rush fully hits
Bring a new, unwrapped toy—big or small. Every gift makes a difference.
Bragging Board
Congratulations to Grant Griffin, Logan Brown and Grants lil Bro Mason on qualifying for the ELITE Team Division at the upcoming Wodapolooza!
Hannah Spratlen completed her first handstand pushups (in a workout too)
CFB members representing at the Marietta Gobble Jog
Sergio with a sub 2 hour half marathon!
Jeb and his crew running the Gobble Jog
Let’s Welcome New Members
Sam Stark
Melissa Roca
Karol Rodriguez
Justin Rutland
Hope Haugh
Why did you choose CrossFit Bound as your training home?
One of the biggest things I was looking for in a gym was good community and being surrounded by people who wanted to work as hard as I did. I chose CF Bound because I felt immediately welcomed by both the staff and the members and it felt like everyone is here to get better, not just to check a workout box.
What’s one fitness goal you hope to achieve in the next few months?
To get my clean back over 200lbs.
What’s your favorite way to move—lifting heavy, cardio, or learning new skills?
My background is in track and field, so running a good interval workout always feels like I'm at home.
Tell us something fun about yourself (job, hobbies, family, etc.).
I got married in October! My husband is a hammer thrower, so he can't come workout with us but hopefully he'll come hang out and be moral support sometimes.
What’s one thing you’re most excited about as part of the Bound community?
Structure and accountability! I'm so glad I don't have to come up with my own workouts anymore because I'm always either too nice to myself or way overdo it.
New Bound Endurance 4 Week Cycle starting
💪 Build Your Endurance + Functional Style Training
Ready to take your fitness to the next level? Our 4-week, 5-day mixed-modal endurance cycle is designed to challenge every energy system while preparing you for Hyrox/Functional-style events. Using rowing, running, Ski Erg, Concept2 bikes, and Echo bikes, you’ll tackle short sprints, 2–3 minute interval pushes, and longer endurance sessions—all paired with a 10–15 minute Hyrox finisher at the end of each workout to build strength, speed, and stamina.
This program is perfect for anyone looking to improve conditioning, boost functional capacity, and push past your limits in a fun, structured way. Follow along each week, track your progress, and see what you’re capable of!
➡ Follow the plan and join us in the gym to crush your endurance goals!
Upcoming Brithdays
Birthdays
George Scott Dec 1
Nathan Cox Dec 2
Kate Davis Dec 3
Eric Ensley Dec 3
Ean Parr Dec 3
Ryan Strache Dec 3
Kyle Rice Dec 6
Miguel Chavez Dec 7
Cole Scott Dec 7
Grayson Young Dec 7
Elaine Dunbar Dec 12
Jeff Valenti Dec 13
Cris Aponte Dec 15
Caleb Forsyth Dec 15
October Attendance Breakdown and Committed Club Members
Total Check-ins: 1,198
Class Averages:
10.94 5:15 pm
9.76 5:30 am
9.18 12 pm
9.13 9 am
8.47 4 pm
4.86 6:30 pm
4.47 6:30 am
October Committed Club
Casey Linch 17
Dylan Porter 17
Melanie Venable 17
Julie Chambers 17
Hannah Spratlen 16
Ruben Rivera 16
Ryan Boone 16
Grant Griffin
Trevor Lampe
Cole Scott
Jesus Mundo
Colton Heibeck
Jeb Buffington 27
Sheri Kindred 25
Mary Turner 24
Kyle Rice 23
Brian Lawler 23
Matt Schuster 21
Natalie Gordon 21
Brittany karneol 21
Wilnette Torres 19
Elysia Dunlap 17
Elaine Dubar 17
BAM 17
Upcoming Schedule & Events
December 5th - Friday Bound “Lift for a Gift” / Xmas Party
🎅 Event Details
📅 When: Thursday, December 5th from 4:00–7:30 PM
*classes will be on normal schedule in morning through lunch
*heats will be assigned at 4, 4:40, 5:20, 6pm (additional if needed)
📍 Where: CrossFit Bound
👥 Who: Bring your family and friends! We’ll have tables and chairs set up in both the front and back areas so everyone can relax, eat, and enjoy the evening.
👕 Attire: Wear your favorite Christmas sweater—ugly, festive, or hilariously outrageous. Rock it during the workout or just hang out and cheer others on.
🍽 Food: We’ll provide the main food for the evening! If you’d like to bring a dessert or side dish to share, we’d love it.
🎁 Why We Celebrate
This event is new to our community, and we’re excited to start a tradition centered around connection, celebration, and giving back. We know the holiday season fills up fast with work events, travel, and family gatherings, so we created a way to come together without adding stress to your already-packed schedule.
“Lift for a Gift” gives us a chance to:
*Celebrate the holiday season with our CrossFit Bound family
*Support Toys for Tots by donating a gift to children in need
*Enjoy time together in a fun, relaxed environment before the holiday rush fully hitsBring a new, unwrapped toy—big or small. Every gift makes a difference.
Amicolola Falls Marathon - December 6, 2025
Full and Half Marathon route in the famous Amicalola Falls State Park which boasts miles of trails, catering to various fitness levels and preferences. The park's trails meander through lush forests, alongside bubbling creeks, and offer stunning views of the 729-foot Amicalola Falls—the tallest cascading waterfall in Georgia .
Jess and some others are already signed up
The Conquer ‘The Toughest Backyard Ultra’
$150 to sign up, and at the start of the race runners will be given a $100 bill to carry the entire race. The remaining $50 goes to the park fees, volunteers and insurance. If the runner desires to stop or times out of the race, they will place the $100 bill into a glass case for the overall winner to claim at the end. Two years into the planning to discover the toughest location to pull off a backyard ultra and we found it at the famous AT approach trail in the Amicalola Falls State Park. The loop starts at the top of the falls with the rugged East Ridge trail leading down to the bottom parking area to pick up the lower Mountain Laurel trail and then up the AT Approach trails with 605 steps back to the top of the falls.
Simple: Each runner will have 1 hour to complete the 4.1-mile loop (1,065ft of elevation) every hour until only one person remains.
Helen Holiday Half & 10K Race - December 13, 2025
discount code ‘Helen10’. *thank you Jen Wells!
CrossFit Journal Article of the Week: Progressive Overload: How CrossFit Does It Better (Without Even Trying)
By Stephane Rochet, CF-L3
Let’s talk about progressive overload — that fundamental principle of training that says you need to gradually increase the stimulus to keep adapting and getting better.
If you’d rather watch/listen to this conversation, you can do that here.
If you’ve spent any time in traditional strength and conditioning circles, you’ve probably heard the criticism of CrossFit: “Where’s the progressive overload? How can you get stronger without a linear progression?”
It’s a fair question. And here’s the thing: CrossFit absolutely has progressive overload. In fact, it might do it better than any other training system. The catch? It wasn’t deliberately designed that way.
What Is Progressive Overload?
Let’s start with the basics. Progressive overload is increasing the stimulus a little bit over specific time periods, usually weeks or months, to force continued adaptation.
The logic is simple: once you get used to something, it stops causing adaptation. Therefore, you must increase the work or stimulus slightly to encourage your body to continue improving. The goal is to make small enough increments that you avoid plateaus while achieving the highest level of adaptation possible.
Traditional methods are straightforward:
Increase the weight. Add 5 lb per week to your squat.
Increase the reps. Hit 10 reps at a weight, then 11, then 12.
Double progression. Add reps until you reach your target, then increase the weight and reduce the reps back to a lower level.
Special techniques. Negatives, isometrics, partials, accommodating resistance with bands and chains; there are many ways to manipulate variables.
It sounds scientific. It looks good on a spreadsheet. And for a while, it works great.
Then Reality Hits
Here’s where it gets complicated, for two big reasons:
First, newbie gains disappear. When you start any training program, progress feels magical. You go from the empty bar to 220 lb in six months, and you think, “Hey, at this rate, I’ll be cleaning 440 in another six months, then 600 after that!”
Except that’s not how it works. You plateau. Everyone does.
Second, we’re talking about multidimensional fitness. Once those easy gains are gone, you’re not just adding 5 lb to one lift every week. You’re trying to improve strength across multiple movements, endurance across different time domains, power output, skill acquisition, metabolic conditioning, and the list goes on.
Traditional progressive overload works great when you’re focused on one thing. But fitness isn’t one thing. And that’s where CrossFit’s approach becomes brilliant.
The 10-Year Window
Greg Glassman never explicitly said, “I designed CrossFit to optimize progressive overload.” But he did say there’s a 10-year window of adaptation to CrossFit.
That statement is his answer to progressive overload, a stimulus designed in a way that takes you 10 years to reach your genetic potential of adaptation in the program.
Think about that. Ten years of continuous improvement through constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. Not 10 years of adding 5 lb to your squat every week until you plateau in three years.
Why CrossFit’s Approach Works
The criticism from traditional strength and conditioning experts is that CrossFit isn’t linear from week to week. And that’s exactly right. Because we’re not talking about linear progression, we’re talking about using variation to achieve long-term progressive overload.
Here’s what happens in CrossFit that you can’t easily track on a spreadsheet.
When your Fran time drops from 6 minutes to 4 minutes, what actually improved? Sure, your thrusters got stronger and your pull-ups got better. But there are a thousand other adaptations happening:
Neural pathways from the brain to the muscle became more efficient
Metabolic systems improved
Hormonal responses optimized
Movement patterns refined
Mental toughness increased
Recovery capacity expanded
Your 5K time probably got faster. Your deadlift probably got stronger. Your cleans and snatches probably got more solid because you’re using similar movement patterns. But we can’t pinpoint exactly which adaptation came from which stimulus.
And here’s the key question: Do we really care if we understand it, as long as the end result is there?
The Result That Matters
You have CrossFit athletes who can clean nearly 400 lb and do Fran in 2 minutes. That combination is mind-blowing. It shouldn’t be possible, but it happens all the time.
The varied stimuli create adaptations in ways you can’t track individually, but the cumulative effect is undeniable. Instead of obsessing over whether your deadlift increases by 5 lb this week or whether you increase reps on one specific movement, you have all these stimuli coming in from different angles, creating adaptations across multiple domains simultaneously.
The Motivation Factor
There’s another advantage to the varied approach that doesn’t get talked about enough — it’s actually sustainable for 10 years.
A linear approach where you do the same thing week after week with tiny adjustments? That sounds incredibly boring. Most people won’t stick with it long enough to see the full benefit.
But a varied approach where you get to test different capacities, face new challenges, and discover what you’re good at (and what you need to work on)? That’s engaging, keeps you coming back, and makes you actually want to train.
And consistency over time beats the perfect program you quit after six months.
The Secret Weapon: Working on Weaknesses
Here’s another piece of CrossFit’s progressive overload that happens organically: the culture of addressing weaknesses.
If you’re an Olympic lifter and you always miss the jerk, you know you need to work on the jerk. That’s obvious. It’s the same in any sport; you identify the weakness and target it.
But CrossFit makes this discovery process automatic. The varied programming constantly uncovers your weaknesses. You can’t hide from them. Double-unders show up and expose your coordination. Heavy deadlifts reveal strength gaps. Long chippers test your pacing and endurance.
And then, this is crucial, the culture says you should work on those weaknesses.
It’s really hard to program all the different things you need to push yourself forward. But here’s a simple heuristic that works: find your weaknesses through varied programming, then target them more frequently.
That’s progressive overload. Finding something you’re bad at and getting good at it is the most basic example of increasing stimulus to force adaptation.
You don’t need crazy diagrams, complex periodization schemes, or perfectly calculated percentages. Find what you suck at. Work on it. Rinse and repeat for a decade. You’re going to be fit.
The Answer to the Critics
When traditional strength and conditioning coaches ask, “Where’s the progressive overload in CrossFit?” the answer is it’s everywhere, you just don’t understand it.
Progressive overload doesn’t have to be linear; it can be cyclical. It doesn’t have to be trackable in a simple spreadsheet. It doesn’t have to follow a predictable pattern.
CrossFit achieves progressive overload through:
Constant variation that creates novel stimuli
Multiple energy systems that are challenged simultaneously
Skills that are developed across a broad range of movements
Weaknesses that are exposed and addressed
Intensity that’s maintained across different time domains
A 10-year adaptation window that keeps you improving
You can’t isolate which specific workout caused which specific adaptation, but you can look at the athlete who’s been doing CrossFit consistently for years and see comprehensive fitness that would be impossible to develop through traditional linear programming.
The Bottom Line
Progressive overload is about one thing: providing enough stimulus to keep adapting without hitting plateaus.
Traditional strength training does this through linear, measurable progressions in a narrow range of capacities. It works, but it’s limited in scope and often boring enough that people quit.
CrossFit does it through variation, breadth of stimulus, and cultural emphasis on addressing weaknesses. It’s harder to track, but the results speak for themselves.
The 10-year adaptation window isn’t a bug; it’s a feature. It means you have a decade of continuous improvement ahead of you if you stay consistent and honest about your weaknesses.
So the next time someone asks where the progressive overload is in CrossFit, you can tell them it’s in every varied workout that exposes a new weakness, every benchmark that tests improvement across different domains, and every decade-long journey of discovering just how fit a human can become.
